Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Tilapia with Lemon Spaghetti

Like it or not, I'm a fan of Rachael Ray. I don't like everything she cooks, but I love her 30-minute meal concept. So occasionally after work I can catch her show on the food network. One day I happened to catch the Sea Note episode and when I saw her making this lemon spaghetti, I knew I had to try it. Along with the lemon spaghetti, she made flounder francese with toasted almonds, lemon and capers. My husband doesn't like flounder, and I don't think either of us are fond of capers - so I decided to try it with tilapia, seasoned with salt and pepper with a simple dip in egg then lightly fried in EVOO. The result - a seriously satisfying and somewhat healthy dish. I use light cream and high fiber pasta (Smart Taste). It's a way to get healthy fish into my somewhat picky husband.

3. When the pasta has been cooking about 5 minutes, add lemon juice, a ladle of the cooking water from the pasta and the cream to the garlic and oil. Raise heat a bit to bring sauce to a bubble.

4. Drain pasta when it still has a good bite to it, al dente. Add lemon zest and half of the cheese to the cream sauce. Season the sauce with salt, to taste. Add pasta to pan and turn off heat. Toss the pasta with sauce a minute or 2, allowing it time to soak up the sauce.

5. Top the plates of pasta or platter with remaining cheese, parsley and basil.

Melissa, if you use the amount specified, it really should just be more of a "brightening" aspect of the dish. I do like mine lemony, so I sometimes add more. But you could easily reduce the lemon as well. HTH :)